1. Technical Field
Since the first release of the Mosaic Web browser in 1993, use of the Internet to download Web-pages, audio files, video files, software files and the like (hereinafter content files) has grown rapidly.
2. Related Art
The attraction of using the Internet in this way would increase further if the content that was delivered to an individual depended on the identity of that individual—in other words, if the content was personalised. Indeed, content providers have begun to offer their customers personalised content. For example, since 1998, Yahoo! Inc. has offered its customers the chance to choose the content and layout of the Web-page they see when browsing my.yahoo.com.
The Internet comprises a large number of local networks (some being regional/national networks) and backbone networks. Many of the local networks only connect to other local networks, but some are connected to backbone networks which are in turn connected to remote local networks. Because the Internet cannot yet offer fast, reliable delivery of content from a remote network, local network operators often provide caches in their networks which store content files frequently requested by customers of that local network. Customers of that local network who subsequently request that content file receive the file quickly since it only need be delivered over the local network.
Personalised content files are generally not stored in caches because they differ in dependence on which user requested them. However, in late 1999, a number of companies announced that they intended to work together to provide an ‘Internet Content Adaptation Protocol’ (see http://www.i-cap.org for details). The protocol is intended to be used by a network cache in sending a content file received by (or stored at) that cache to another computer which modifies the content file and returns it to the cache for forwarding onto a user. In this way, a user is provided with some of the benefits of both caching and personalisation.
To date, no company has offered people who browse its web-site a quality of network service that differs in dependence on the identity of the individual who is browsing. However, international patent application WO 98/24208 discloses a data communication system which, in response to a request from a user for remotely stored data, reserves, in a connection-oriented wide area network between that user's access network and the remote store, an amount of bandwidth for transferring that file in accordance with a user's level of subscription to the relevant content provider and differential delivery service provider. The reservation only takes place if the amount of bandwidth is suitable for the type of data concerned and if the access network has that amount of bandwidth available to the user.
None of the prior proposals for personalised content delivery has disclosed a mechanism for personalising quality of content delivery when the content is to be delivered from a cache. Since both caching and personalisation of quality of delivery are beneficial, there is a need to provide such a mechanism.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a communications network comprising a remote network in communication with a local network, said method comprising:    transmitting content delivery policy data from said remote network to said local network, said content delivery policy data being analysable to find content delivery parameters given at least one communication attribute;    operating said local network to:    store said content delivery policy data at said local network;    receive a communication attribute for the delivery of content data to a recipient;    analyse said content delivery policy data to find content delivery parameters for said content data delivery; and    deliver said content data to said recipient in accordance with said parameters for said delivery;    wherein:    said local network further comprises a local content data store arranged to store said content data; and    said content data delivery step comprises delivering said content data from said local store over said local network with one of a plurality of qualities of delivery selected in accordance with said parameters.
The plurality of qualities of delivery might be two or more classes of delivery service, or might be a range of bandwidths, delays, amounts of jitter etc.
In this specification ‘personalised content provision’ and equivalent expressions cover both the personalisation of a content file and the personalisation of network service when delivering a content file.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a communications network comprising a remote network in communication with a local network, said method comprising:    transmitting content provision policy data from said remote network to said local network, said content provision policy data being analysable to find content provision adaptation parameters given at least one communication attribute;    operating said local network to:    store said content provision policy data at said local network;    receive a communication attribute for the provision of a content file to a recipient;    analyse said content provision policy data to find content provision adaptation parameters for said content file provision; and    provide said content file to said recipient in accordance with said parameters for said provision.
By transmitting content provision policy data (which might, for example, be generated by a content provider at a remote network) to a local network, said data being analysable to find content provision adaptation parameters given at least one communication attribute, receiving a communication attribute for the provision of a content file to a recipient and then analysing said data to find said content provision adaptation parameters for said provision, a local network operator is able to provide personalised content delivery to said recipient in accordance with one or more content provision policies of, for example, said content provider. Furthermore, by carrying the analysis of the content provision policy data at the local network, the personalisation processing load on said remote network is reduced. Communication attributes might include attributes of the content file to be provided and/or recipient attributes. Recipient attributes might include attributes of the network facilities used to provide communication with the user (including the type of receiver used by the user) as well as characteristics of the user himself.
In the preferred embodiment described below the content provision adaptation parameters comprise a destination port/source port pair and a Diff-Serv marking to be applied to packets flowing between those ports. However, in a second embodiment they comprise a ‘bid’ which is convertible into Diff-Serv marking and source/destination port pair in dependence on the current price of bandwidth in the local network. The expression content provision adaptation parameters is also intended to cover any other parameters that are convertible to such a packet-marking policy.
Preferably, said communication attribute comprises one or more recipient attributes, said method further comprising the steps of operating said remote network to:    a) store data listing one or more recipient attributes for each of a plurality of first recipient identifiers;    b) receive an recipient attributes request message including an indication of a first recipient identifier;    c) responsive to said recipient attributes request message, sending a recipient attributes reply message containing said recipient attributes associated in said stored data with said first recipient identifier to said local network.
This provides a mechanism for using a database stored at the remote network to generate one or more recipient attributes corresponding to a recipient identifier (e.g. a user name). This has the advantage that the operator of that database (which might, for example, be a content provider) can cause information they hold about the recipient to be taken into account when deciding how to provide the content file over the local network to the user.
Preferably, said recipient attributes request message further comprises a recipient network address;    said recipient attributes reply message further comprises said recipient network address;    said method further comprises the step of operating said local network to store said recipient attributes in association with said recipient network address for a predetermined period of time;    said content file provision step comprises:    receiving a content file request, said content file request including a recipient network address;    finding the recipient attributes associated with said network address; and    providing said content file over said network in accordance with said recipient attributes.
This has the advantage that the recipient need not provide the local network with a user identifier.
Preferably, said predetermined period of time extends for one user session with the remote network. Note that the IP address changes between user sessions with the local network. A user session with the remote network normally forms part of a user session with the local network. Such embodiments of the invention have the advantage that the personalised content provision can adapt between user sessions with the remote network.
Preferably, said content provision policy data comprises a plurality of subsets of content provision policy data, each subset relating to a predetermined class of content file;    said method further comprising:    receiving a request that a content file be provided to a user, said request including a name for said content file;    classifying said content file as belonging to a predetermined content class based on said name; and    said content provision policy data analysis step comprises:    selecting a subset of said content provision policy data which corresponds to said content class; and    analysing said subset to find content provision adaptation parameters for said provision.
This allows for more flexible personalisation which takes into account both the nature of the content file to be provided and the recipient attributes.
In some embodiments, each first recipient identifier comprises a user name, said recipient attributes comprise one or more user attributes, and said content file provision step comprises providing, in accordance with said user attributes, said file to a user associated with said first recipient identifier. In these cases, personalised content provision depends on the user, rather than, say, the physical characteristics of parts or the whole of the local network over which the file is to be delivered.
In some embodiments, said local network further comprises a local content file store and said method further comprises:    operating said local network to store said content file at said local content file store, said content file provision step comprising delivering said content file from said local store over said local network with a quality of network service in accordance with said recipient attributes.
In this case, it is the quality of the delivery of the file by the local network that is personalised. In other cases, it is the content itself which is personalised.